Achillies Tendon Pain

iclestu

So somewhere on my LEJOG I started getting a pain in my left achillies tendon. Stretching and 'being more spinny' helped but after a rest day at my GF's house in Yorks, I am debating whether to continue. The pain got worse as it stiffened up and I can feel 'rough movement' in it when I move my foot. My GF can feel it by putting her hand on it and having me move my foot.

Anyone else suffer from this?

After googling I'm pretty scared of keeping going and making it worse and ending up tearing or rupturing it? (thats without thinking of the day to day pain sucking the joy out of my trip).

Any advice?

Can I get this looked at 'en tour'? Surely not serious enough for an A&E dept. or anythign like that but miles away from my own GP?

SeriouslyFedUp.com

notsoblue

How does it feel as the days cycling progresses? Is it painful when you set off but then calms down once you're warmed up? Or does it just get progressively worse?

iclestu

notsoblue wrote:

How does it feel as the days cycling progresses? Is it painful when you set off but then calms down once you're warmed up? Or does it just get progressively worse?

It had been getting worse for a day or two and was at its best immeadiately after breaks and at its worst after a long time on the bike. Not sure if it was the rest itself that helped or that I had made a point of (gently) stretching calf during these breaks.

On that basis I thought the rest day would help (I tried to keep stretching it during the rest day) but its been worst of all after that. :-(

pangolin

I got this on LEJOG. The sort of grating feel when you move the foot with your hand on the ankle is horrible isn't it! I'm afraid I only got it on the last 2 days, and managed to finish, just trying to ride more with spinning than usual (less grinding big gears).

Somewhere between 1-2 weeks after finishing , with not much riding, it was gone. So not ages, but too long for mid tour I guess.

iclestu

pangolin wrote:

The sort of grating feel when you move the foot with your hand on the ankle is horrible isn't it!

Yeah, very odd feeling.

If I thought that it wouldnt get worse I'd probably plough on but I probably know in my heart that would be folly... Love cycling and dont want to risk longer term damage for the sake of finishing a tour that Im really just doing for fun.

notsoblue

iclestu wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

How does it feel as the days cycling progresses? Is it painful when you set off but then calms down once you're warmed up? Or does it just get progressively worse?

It had been getting worse for a day or two and was at its best immeadiately after breaks and at its worst after a long time on the bike. Not sure if it was the rest itself that helped or that I had made a point of (gently) stretching calf during these breaks.

On that basis I thought the rest day would help (I tried to keep stretching it during the rest day) but its been worst of all after that. :-(

When I did my Lejog I had pretty awful knee pain for the second half of it, every morning I'd be in agony for the first 1-2 hours of riding and then it would subside. This was almost entirely down to a poor bike fit (I did it on a hybrid that was slightly too small for me). It didn't do me any long term damage, but it certainly made the tour a bit more of a challenge.

If you get the chance I'd definitely try and see someone about it, if only to put your mind at rest. Whenever I've had problems with my achilles from cycling its been after I've made an adjustment to my cleats. So might be worth looking at that? I realise that will be difficult while you're on the road though.... Could you make a detour for some quick advice on cleat/seat position?

sketchley

I'd guess at Saddle too high try dropping it 1/2 inch?

From Sheldon http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#achilles

Achilles Tendons
The Achilles tendons are the tendons at the back of the ankle, connecting the calf muscle to the heel. If you have pain in these tendons, it usually indicates a problem in pedaling technique. Achilles tendon problems often result from "ankling" during the pedal stroke. This is occasionally related to having the saddle set too high, forcing the cyclist to point the toes excessively to reach the bottom of the pedal swing.

It can also be caused by having your cleats set too far forward, or otherwise pedaling with the toes. The farther forward the contact between the foot and the pedal, the greater the stress on the Achilles tendons.

KateF

I had what sounds like this around February time. Mine started as a sore achilles but then got to the stage where I had a creaking type noise which sounds a little like what you describe with the 'rough movement' and I found it difficult to walk. The diagnosis was achilles tendinopathy and the noise you hear is apparently called crepitus. Crepitus apparently happens when the tendon sheath has got so far as breaking down and therefore it really isn't good. I'd recommend going to a physio as soon as you can as I was told that it could lead to a rupture.

Prognosis on my achilles was that I had damaged it through overuse, which was exacerbated by the fact that my saddle was far too high and shoes ill-fitting and insufficiently supportive. Ended up off the bike for the best part of a month and with an eight week course of physio, which set it right eventually.

Sorry to not be able to be reassuring about it